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The Final Girls (Movie Review)

I was pretty excited to check out The Final Girls from the first time I saw the trailer. It's always neat to watch the slasher horror movie genre tackled in kind of a fun meta way. On the other hand sometimes these kind of movies fall flat and just come off dull or boorish. So I went into The Final Girls with high expectations but some trepidation.

One thing that will instantly get this movie some big interest is the cast. The cast of the movie is pretty solid.  Taissa Farmiga, Malin Ã…kerman, Adam DeVine, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, and Nina Dobrev are among the list of the main cast. Middleditch has some great comedic moments, but Devine playing a "fratish dork” is pretty hilarious. Taissa Farmiga and Malin Ã…kerman play the more heart on your sleeve characters who also have a few great female empowerment moments!

(Mild Spoilers Below!!!)


Basically the plot is this: Taissa Farmiga plays Max Cartwright who lost her actress mother (played by Ã…kerman) in a car crash. Ã…kerman's character is an actress who is most known for her acting in cult slasher film, Camp Bloodbath. Max is basically coerced into attending a movie theatre showing of Camp Bloodbath with some of her friends and an ex-friend current frenemy (played by Dobrev). Once inside some odd events transport the gang inside the movie fated to go against the slasher villain. Once there they realize they have to make it to the end of the movie or perish!

The purposely cheesy dialogue and utter mindlessness of the camp counselors is a great take on how cheesy some of the dialogue and situations were in some of the old 80s slasher flicks. Also don't have any sex (or really just act sexual at all) or Billy Murphy, a character very indebted to Jason from Friday The 13th, will show up and finish you off! Max's gang lands at the start of the film and quickly find themselves immersed in a world without cell phones, online shopping, and well...brain power (these things will get referenced throughout the movie on multiple occasions). 

It was pretty cool to see how the movie handled flashback sequences as well as how it dealt with credits and words on the screen. These things become tangible things at times. It's also neat that any time Billy is near the group we hear the eerie 80s horror sound that means Billy is coming! All the while the camp counselors in the movie seem oblivious. That is until one character is splashed with blood in a flashback and brings it back with her. At that point all hell breaks loose and the camp counselors get clued in on it. Then it's time to take Billy on and show that the final girl (she has to be a virgin!) can stop Billy and get everyone to safety. Along the way we get some hilarious bloodbath moments, crazy scenarios, and a lot of heart that you wouldn't expect from this movie between Max and Nancy (mostly due to Max missing her mom who played Nancy in the movie). I loved the nods to 80s horror movies throughout. You can find some of those in the soundtrack, the clothing, the setting and scenery. Whether it be the typical 80s looking camp or the purple/pink spooky lightning clouds, everything mostly makes sense and even if it doesn't it only adds to the nod to the zaniness and wackiness of the horror genre. I really enjoyed the ending (even though I guessed it early on in the movie).  It's a campy movie in all the best ways and it uses that campiness to its strength about 95% of the time.

The Final Girls is primed to live in Netflix favoritism sort of in similar fashion to a movie like Tucker & Dale VS Evil. It's a super fun movie with lots of laughs. The solid casting helps the movie as the actors give some really great performances. Adam Devine steals the show in more than a few shots. It's quite hilarious to see his attire and his lady skills...if you could call them that.  This is a great movie to check out for this Halloween season. It's one of the better I've seen from the horror/comedy genre in a while.

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